


GUIDE-POSTS 






ON 



IMMORTAL ROADS 



/ 



MRS. JACOB MARTIN 




BOSTON: 
COLBY & RICH 

!• ItfOKTGOXXBY PLACE. 

L882, 



GUIDE-POSTS 



ON 



IMMORTAL ROADS 



BY 



/ 



MKS. JACOB MARTIX. 



S< 










BOSTON: 
COLBY & KIOH. 

9 MONTOOM! II V I'l I 

1882. 









COPYBIGHTED BY MBS. JACOB MABTIN, 1882. 



As a firefly among the stars, as a ripple on the ocean, I MBd 
out this small beacon of hope through the valleys <>f despair. 

Those with better light will not see it, and those with none 
may be glad of its faint ray. 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 



From infancy to age, from the cradle to the grave, 
we trace our loved ones, and there we seem to Leave 
them. There we take our last farewell <>t' thoee 
dearer than our own lives, and the clods heaped <>n 
them seem bruising our trembling hearts and bury- 
ing all our hopes. 

Prayers, tears, and regrets are of no avail, for that 
which made life seem brightest is blotted out, and 
henceforth we walk under the cloud of a great Bor- 
row, — a sorrow too pitiless to kill, but strong enough 
to make our lives endure. 

Saints and sinners alike are left utterly miserable 
in the separation caused by death, and the conscious- 
ness of their loss softens every heart. 

Bigotry (whose bony lingers strangle so many 
noble impulses) is forgotten for a time, and we 
each other all we have to give, our hearts' full Btore 
of sympathy. 

Creeds skulk away and hide their guilty faces in 
the Church, while loving human nature puts her 

arms around the desolate, ami comforts them with 
tender words and deed.; and. smiling through her 
tears, she points to some blight st.ir of hope. 



j 



6 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

The "white angel of death" has created wonder 
and fear in all ages and countries, and heathen and 
Christian are equally helpless when it appears. All 
rational beings have some conviction regarding it, 
but neither civilization nor education can make any 
opinion universal. 

In this Christian country some think it a curse, a 
judgment, a token of God's wrath; and that He 
takes the lives of the innocent to punish the guilty. 

Some think the (so-called ) dead lie unconscious 
through all the great centuries of time, and that on 
the judgment-day all the bodies, bones and souls, 
will be put together, and ;ippear before the Lord. 

Some believe tin- body ,^'<>es to dust, and the spirit 
to another world; others believe the grave holds all 
there is, and have no hope of future life; and all 
these views are from the Christian Bible. 

There was a time, years ago, when I too tried to 
take the Bible for a guide, and accept its dogmas. 
I read it earnestly and prayerfully, hoping each day 
that it would lead me into the light, yet finding its 
pages darker and darker the closer I studied them. 
Its glaring contradictions, revengeful acts, and reck- 
less assertions completely disheartened me, and I 
turned from its monstrous conceptions of divinity 
in sorrow and disgust. 

I saw those who claimed it as divine construing 
it to suit their own tastes, each proving by it that he 
was on the high road to heaven and his neighbor 
on that to perdition. Individuals, sects, and denomi- 
nations made it the perpetual bone of contention and 
wrangled over it continually. 



GUIDE-POSTS <>N QfMORTAL ROADS, I 

When I turned to its pages for the blessed li 
of immortality, and I asked, with a hungry soul, •• 1 1 
this life allt" God's Word said "Y i"i God's W 

said " No." It threw me upon my own res >uroes 
the true reply. 

I was told by tin' professing Christian to prn;f for 

light in all matters pertaining tomysouL That (i id 

answered those who persevered in earnest petitions. 
I tried it. 1 prayed as sincerely and often, perhaps. 

as any of them, though not in as el. --ant Language or 
loud voice. I only intended it for God, and sup- 
posed he could hear without my Bhouting, and under- 
stand even if I knew no Greek. I begged Him to 
give me the true understanding of His Word, and to 
lead my soul aright. What was the result of tfa 
anxious prayers"/ If prayers be answered at all, in- 
fidelity was the fruit of mine; that was the "light" 

given me regarding the Bible. So weary and hope- 
less did the hook make me that I determined to put 
it away, and let common sense, justice, and humanity 

influence me in my efforts to do right 

I thought it was no wonder that, with it for au- 
thority, rivers of blood had been shed in the attempt 

to bring the reason under the whip of " Thus saith 

the Lord." No wonder that reason itself had I I 

often been dethroned in trying to comprehend how 

a loving Father and all-wise Creator could be the 
author of such a composition, — a Father who en- 
dows his children with certain capacities, gives them 
cm-tain beliefs, and iinally sends them to an eternal 
ne l] because of them.— a Father who can make the 

whole human famil\ good and happy, hut | I 



8 GUIDE-POSTS OX IMMORTAL ROADS. 

make them wicked and wretched. I do not believe 
ID such an unnatural Father, and could not love him 
if I did. I do not believe the Bible was written by 
Him, and could not think it infallible if I did. I 
trace in it nothing but the doings and opinions of 
men, and, as a general thin- of very wicked men at 
that, -a man-made book, with all the imperfections 
and disadvantages of the age in which it was written, 
— a book which is a constant drain on the public' 
purse, requiring, as it dues, that men shall be edu- 
cated and paid purposely t«, explain it to the people 

And what is the result of this? Simply that every 
priest, bishop, and minister in the world interprets 

it t,, suit kknseft&nd individually and collectively 
they argue, dispute, and quarrel over it from one 
decade to another. Each thinks the other wrong in 
his comprehensions, and in that respect I am inclined 
to think them <ill right. 

Well, let them cudgel each other with the Bible if 
they like, I care nothing about the weapon or the 
war. I shall puzzle no more over the pages of the 
book, lor 1 du not care whether the whale swallowed 
Jonah or Jonah swallowed the whale. I don't care 
how many bullocks were sacrificed, how many wives 
David had, how many times the Lord repented (?) 
or how many colors were in Joseph's coat, It is a 
matter of no earthly or heavenly consequence. But 
out of regard to those who attach importance to 
these matters, I will say as little about the Bible as 
I can to be honest, and say it as kindly as anyone 
can who has my views. 

By authority of the Scriptures, Christians defend 



GUIDE-POSTS OX IMMORTAL BOADB. 9 

their doctrines of eternal damnation ; Mormons their 
polygamy ; Spiritualists their Bpirit-COmmunioD : and 
Materialists their belief in annihilation. Even 
Atheists, as individuals, claim that "God's Word" 
is so full of cruelties and wickedness that it con- 
vinces them there is no God. 

Yet, with all this diversity of opinion, Job's ques- 
tion, "If a man die, shall he live again?' 1 continues 
to be echoed from age to age. No people ask this 
more sincerely than the Spiritualists and Material- 
ists, the former joyfully answering "yea," and the 
latter sternly saying " no." 

"No," they say, "the Bible proves to US that 
they are dead, they shall not live; they are de- 
ceased, they shall not rise." — Isa., 26: 1 \. They Bay 
that "As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth a v. 
so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up UO 
more." — Job, 7: 9. 

"But man dieth, and wasteth away, — yea. man 
giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" — rob, 14:10. 

"The dead know not anything, neither have the) 
any more a reward." — Eecl., 9: 5. 

"His breath goeth forth, lie returnethto his earth; 
in that very day his thoughts perish." — !*>.. 1 16: I. 

"For that which bet'alleth the sons of men befall- 
eth the beasts: even one thing befalleth them: 
the one dieth so dieth the other,— yea, they haw all 
oik; breath, so that a man has no prominence a! 
a beast." — Eccl., 3: 19. 

-•All go unto one place." — Eccl., 8: 20. 

Here i> strong foundation for materialism, though 

but a small amount of the abundance in the S< ripfc- 



10 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

ures. It is enough to convince anyone relying on 
them that there is neither soul, heaven, or hell. 

On the other hand, those Spiritualists who desire 
Bible evidence for their belief CAD find all they want. 
The manifestations occurring in presence of their 
mediums are nearly all mentioned in the Bible, — such 
as speaking in unknown tongues, healing by laying 
on of hands, prophesying, writing on the wall (or 
slates and paper), and materialization of spirit. 

St. Paul was quite spiritual in some of his views, 
as fully expressed in various chapters. He says: 
"There \a a natural body, and there is a spiritual 
body.*— 1 Cor., 14:44. 

-Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of 
God."— 1 (or., 14:50. 

If that be true, then the resurrection is false; for 
only the spiritual body will be accepted 

St. John says: -No man hath ascended up to heav- 
en but he that came down from heaven, even the 
Son of Man." — John, 3: 13. 

According to that, all that the; ministers tell us 
about our "angel friends looking down upon us 
from heaven " is a mistake ; and no one but Christ 
has entered there yet. On that last day "The trum- 
pet shall sound and the dead shall be raised." — Cor., 
15:52. 

Yet the clergy stand over the open coffins, with 
the poor, white faces of the dead before them, and 
declare their spirits are now in heaven, or hell, as 
the case may be. Those who were "children of 
God" (members of their church) are said to be sing- 



GUIDE-POSTS OX IMMORTAL ROAD8. 11 

ing around the throne, and those who wore Dot are 

elsewhere. 

By what authority do they take it Qpon them- 
selves to say these spirits go from the body at < 
into glory or torment? Do they ignore the judg- 
ment-day? Are we to understand that people u r «» t<> 
heaven without permission, have a good time till the 
end of the world, and get back in their graves again 
in time for a grand resurrection? That others are 
sent to perdition without the cause being examined, 
or the case tried? If none of this, pray what is the 
meaning of the sermons we hear ? 

At this moment I recall but two instances in the 
Bible where the spirits went immediately to rest, 
One was the thief, to whom Jesus said: "Today 
shalt thou be with me in paradise." — St, Luke 23: l :> >. 

The present generation of thieves and murderers 
seem to think that promise universal, for they aU 
go off the gallows to glory. They Bay and exhort 
innocent people to "meet them in Jesus." 1 take it 
that their society would be rather a questionable 
inducement to get decent people to heaven; and the 
place would be rather undesirable if crowded with 
such angels (?). 

The other case was of the child -who was to rule 
all nations with a rod of iron," but who did not 
"And her child was caught ap unto God, and His 
throne."^- Rev., 12:5. That was during the war in 
heaven, when the old dragon was pitched overboard. 

I sometimes wonder what guarantee WS ha\e that 
there will be no more wars in beaven. Ii would u I 
be pleasant for anyone but BOldieTS U) arrive there in 



12 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

the excitement of battle ; and even they (not being 
sure which party would conquer) might feel a deli- 
cacy about " taking sides." According to orthodoxy, 
General Beelzebub has so many followers now that 
he would be pretty hard to rout. And now I re- 
member a third who went directly to the happy 
land, — " Elijah went by a whirlwind into Heaven." 
— 2 Kings, 2 : 11. How can we harmonize that and 
the saying of Paul, that "Flesh and blood cannot 
inherit the kingdom of God" v 

It must be that poor, old Elijah never got there 
after all, for, snatched up as hurriedly as he was, he 
had no time to get out of his flesh or clothes either, 
if I except his mantle, which fell off. Since his 
horses and carriage were of lire, it is barely possible 
that he burnt up on the way. and arrived in proper 
attire, unencumbered with flesh and blood. Any- 
way, we shall suppose the case, just to save mental 
strain. 

From beginning to end the Bible has innumerable 
accounts of the appearance of angels. Mary saw 
them at the sepulchre. — St. John, 20 : 11. Two of 
them took supper with Lot, and staid all night. — 
Gen., 19: 1. Three angels visited Abraham, had 
their feet washed, talked, drank milk, ate cake, but- 
ter, and "fatted calf" just like "folks."— Gen., 18: 
2. One comforted poor Hagar when that heartless 
old wretch, Abraham, sent her and their baby into the 
wilderness to starve. — Gen., 21 : 17. Another kept 
Abraham from killing his son, Isaac. — Gen., 22 : 11. 
An angel wrestled with Jacob one night, and more 
than got his match, for Jacob conquered him before 



GUIDE-POSTS on EMMORTAL BOAD& ! 

he let him go.— Gen., 82: 24. One came from 
heaven with the keys of hell, caught the devil, tied 
him, and threw him into the bottomless pit for a 
thousand years. ( Does history tell what the sinners 
were doing during thai period ? It would have !< 
a splendid time for a perfect carnival of crime.) 
"After thai he must be loosed for a little season."— 
Rev., 20: 1-4. I suppose the angel had compassion 
on the old serpent, or he feared he could not hold 
out without a little vacation. Whether, after the 
miserable old fellow cooled oil' a little, the a; 
threw him into the lower regions again "deponent 
sayeth not." 1 am thankful / was not the angel 
with those keys, for 1 am sure I would have betra 
my trust. I would not have the heart to keep even 
thi' old devil in the torments of hell, but would 
sure to let him and his whole burning, wailing gang 
out. 1 would instinctively rush for water <>r pound- 
ed ice to cool their parched tongues, ami roll their 
crisped bodies in linseed oil and cotton. Of col 
J would get roasted eternally for my sympathy, but I 

would be obliged to help them anyhow. I am such 
a wicked rebel that 1 could not pitch in ' veil 

to an alto in tin; heavenly "hallelujahs" if I refu 
to release even one lost soul, nor enjoy myself in 
any respect, as a well-bred saint ought i 

St. John says : " I saw four angels Standing on the 

four corners of the earth, holding the four winds 

the earth.'* — Rev., 7 : 1. Now, while I believe in 

angels, somehow I cai t believe fully in all the 

Bible says about them. I cannot imagine four 
angels lifting such a wci-ht. nor John 1 



14 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

good enough to see the extreme limits of the earth 
if they had. Since the earth had "corners" at that 
time (and probably a leg under each corner like a 
table, or bedstead), they must have been ground off 
by the constant revolution ; or, may be the earth is 
not round now, as we suppose it, but is resting 
solidly on its four legs. In that case, its legs rest 
on the ground of course; and the ground rests on 

well, I do not know what. I guess "that is not 

for us to understand.*' 

According to Revelation, there are innumerable 
accounts of angels with keys, books, reeds, vials, 
swords, crowns, horns, girdles, and sickles, — some on 
horseback, and some afoot. These beings all oame 
from heaven, or the "heavens opened," and they were 
visible to the naked eye. The articles they wore and 
brought with them were, of course, made above, 
we claim no commercial relations with the celestial 
world. In that event, there must be manufactories 
there, and laborers to run them. Work would 
necessitate rest and food. Food would require 
agriculture, and that would call for horses and cat- 
tle, or steam, or all of these. 

Even the crowns and harps have to be made some- 
how, and it is not supposable that God puts in His 
time on such things; neither is it that they are 
indigenous to the climate or place. For neither 
through miracle or revelation have we received the 
slightest hint that crowns and harps grow ready- 
made. 

When I read certain portions of the Bible, they 
invariably suggest these ideas, regardless of any 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 15 

opinions I may otherwise hold. In Revelation, 
angels, heavens, and all they contain, Beem brought 
down on a level with the commonesl beings and 

scenes of earth. For instance: "And I Baw an 
angel standing in the sun ; and he cried with a loud 
voice, saying to all the fowls thai fly in the midst of 
heaven: ' Come and gather yourselves i >g herunto 
the supper of the Great God, thai ye may cat the 
flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, ami tin' flesh 
of mighty men, and the flesh of horses."*— R . .. L9 : 
18. Or, in other words, angels loll around in the 
sun, calling the chickens and ducks to eat dead men 
and horses with God. Now. if that pi S iript- 

ure is not enough to make tis slum heaven, I do not 
know what is. Vet John, a writer of great author- 
ity in the Church, sets out this dainty feast for tin- 
Lord. Christians think it an unpardonable crime 
for anyone to believe there is qo God, but in my 
opinion the crime is in trying to think there is wueh 
a God as the Bible gives us. No (iod i> 
improvement on that. 

There are thousands of people who cannot tolerate 
Spiritualists for thinking their spirit friends return 
and write, or rap. They declare that spirit- have 
something better to do than raj) on a table. Y.-t, if 
St. John be correct, they are not as intellectually 
engaged as we might hope. Some of those men- 
tioned by him were standing Oil riverfl of glass, BOme 
lighting, and Some pouring God's wrath out <»!' little 

vials.— Rev., 16: L2. The Idea of "bottled wrat 
I expect bad whiskey isa mild kind of bottled wrath. 
Some were riding around with Is in their 



16 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

mouths. — Rev., 19:15. There must be angel host- 
lers, too, for we art' told of red, white, and black 
horses. — Rev., 6: --4, 5. Various passages mention 
beasts around the throne of God, They won 1 furious- 
Looking animals, but they could talk ; and they and 
w twenty elders " worshipped God together. — Rev., 

o: 11. 

I feel safe in saying, however foolish Spiritual- 
ists may he considered, that they cannot believe 
beasts and ministers surround the throne. I am 
afraid they have hardy faith enough to think twenty 

elders were there (for twenty is a Large number in 
that connection), much less tin 1 beasts. 

No Spiritualist Bays or believes that the angels call 

the fowls t<> slipper with God. Spiritualists cannot 
imagine the Creator Bitting down amidst the quack- 
ing of geese and crowing of fowls to eat the bodies 
of dead men. Ugh! — the mere idea is disgusting. 
It seems worse even than "spirit-rapping." 

There are Christians who claim that the angels are 
not the spirits of men of earth ; their Bible, how- 
ever, says they are. Who but men were the "elders " 
around the throne? When St. John was in the Isle 
of Patmos, he talked with an angel who testified to 
the death of his body. "I am he that liveth and 
was dead ; and behold I am alive forevermore." — 
Rev., 1 : 18. 

King Saul knew Samuers spirit when he saw it, 
and the two talked face to face. — 1 Sam., 28:11. 
Four witnesses recognized Moses and Elias on the 
mountain. — Mat., 17: 3. Samuel, Moses, and Elias 
were men, and lived and died just as we do. Jesus 



GUIDB-POSTS ON EMMOBTAL EtOADS. IT 

lived and died, and his spirit came back at times and 
fully materialized. ( ro one occasion he was recognL 
by eleven witnesses. He talked with them, and 
broiled fish and honey-comb. u Bn1 they were terri- 
fied and affrighted, and supposed they had Been a 
spirit." — St. Luke, 24 : 37. Showing thai even in 
that day the return of spirits was believed in. 

Since life opens to every human being in the Bame 
way, is it not reasonable that il closes the same way 
for all ? If one man return after tin- change called 
death, under proper conditions may not all do 
J believe they may: but so unsettled had the con- 
tradictory statements of the Bible made me regard- 
ing future life that I hit at one time the need of 
evidence. Intuition and hope promised immortality, 
but did not prove it. I wanted the truth, what 
that might be. If materialism, which falls in the 
open grave, were true, I wanted to know it. thinking 
its eternal rest infinitely better than Christian 
eternal damnation. If Spiritualism, with its eternal 
progression, were true, 1 wanted to know whether 
those we lost here would remember ami love US in 
their new existence. 

I asked of Nature no favors, no catering to my 

tastes; but I asked her to reveal to me tl 

fact of a hereafter, if she had it to reveal. I wished 

to hug no delusion t«» my soul simply because it com- 
forted me for the time being, but to make the best 
of facts whatever they were. 

Christianity offered Mich m< rl t«» the 

bereave. 1 heart that, wl..m the sympat het ie mini 
gleaned every little -non he could, il « 



18 G TIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

gotten. I have seen (as who lias not?) heart-broken, 
inexperienced wives left the sole guides and pro- 
viders for little children. They had Dot only to 
bear the pangs of separation from a loving husband 
but also the stings of poverty. In their great tribu- 
lation they would (urn to the Church for solace, and 
received the assurance that "God doeth all for the 
best," — that He watched over the Bparrows, etc. 
etc. The poor, mourning souls would try to Bay: 
"Thy will be done," but every sob of their pierced 
hearts, and every murmur of their trembling lips, 
tow oni denial of their submission. They 

were only human, and being such, could not think it 
"best" for themselves and little ones to be left bo 
lonely and destitute. Years of toil and pov< 
made it no clearer to their minds why God took heed 
for the sparrows and left them and their pale-faced 
children to suffer. They were told "His ways are 
mysterious, and past finding out." I should say so. 
I have seen Christian parents frantic with grief 
over the less of souk- lovely child, and the only com- 
fort they got from the pulpit was that " God wanted 
their precious one to adorn heaven." That they had 
loved it too much was why He had taken it. That 
the tk Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away."' As 
it' parents could love their children too much! One 
would think from this that only the unloved chil- 
dren can live; that only in homes where they are 
unwelcome are the innocent spared. " The Lord 
giveth, and the Lord taketh away." Ah, but sup- 
pose He does, where is the comfort of it? We know 
this is always called the comfort of Christianity, but 



GUIDE-POSTS OH QOfOBTAL !:<••. Lfl 

surely those who Lose the jewels from their hei 
find little pleasure in the thought that they delij 
others. 

I, being an unbeliever, have had yet coldei 
fort offered me in my repeated afflictions. I 1 
been assured by those who are otherwise intellectual 
that God takes my Loved ones to break my stubborn 
will, — that unless I accept the Church dogmas, and 
follow Christ, there, will he no cessation of Borrow. 
Jesus was a martyr to his opinions. His religion 
-was unpopular in his day, and, because <>!' it. he 
crucified. Neither God nor man heeded his dying 
prayers, though he belli ved. In some respects I d i 
follow him, fur my prayers have been unanswered, 
and I am persecuted lor standing by my honest con- 
victions. 

As individuals, I love and honor honest church 
members as well as anyone, ami gladly number them 
among my dear friends ; but I detest their religious 

views as much as they possibly can mine. And 

while I shock them with my heresy, they shock me 
with their superstition. I am willing for them to be 

happy in their belief, but they condemn me here and 
hereafter lor mine. When my innocent babes have 
been in the pangs of inexpressible torture, the 

Church has hissed in our ears that God did it all to 

punish us for our unbelief. That He implanted that 
holiest of feelings, maternal Love, in my soul, 
tries to uproot it. Yet I know, should lie crush my 

heart to a mere husk. He will find in i erm 

of life pure mothei-love. They tell me He purp 
takes the sweet lives of my babes, and I am prom- 



20 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

ised continual desolation here, and eternal torment 
hereafter, it' I do not kiss the hand that smites me. 
They say that, when mv s..nl was in an ecstasy 
of happiness and love, He snatched my precious 
human blossoms from mv breast that 1 might love 
Him more. Great heavens! can it be that any 
mother's love could be bo won ? No, no, I say, never 
while reason lasts! 

Though 1 be (loomed to endless misery, I cannot 
worship this God whose fingers drip with my own 
children's blood, and wln.se kingdom I can only 
enter by being unworthy of their love. 

This character given the Creator by His worship- 
pers is not in harmony with anything in nature. No 
human persecutes another to gain affection. How 
much less then would God be so unwise and mali- 
cious? Even the lower animals have more sense 
than to love those who torture their offspring; and 
we never attempt to gain their affection by killing 
their young. Should we try this experiment, a pair 
of horns in our ribs, claws in our faces, or sharp 
teeth in our flesh, would convince us of our error. 
Have we not as much love and reason as the brute? 

Cruelty does not beget love, or deserve it ; but ex- 
perience and observation teach us that kindness, 
justice, love, and respect win love. 

Because I am a skeptic, the Church forgets to say 
to me in my sorrow: "Whom the Lord loveth, He 
chasteneth."— Heb., 12 : 6. If that be true, it ought 
to see that I am one of His chosen ones. I do not 
claim that I am., but that the text applies to me if to 
anyone. 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL IK) ADS. 2] 

Take it all in all, I do not blame Him for my dis- 
solution; for I look upon death as the natural result 
of life. We are born into this existence, and we 
out of it; and one event is as natural as the other. 
Nature neither consults us about coming < 
It is the inevitable. Therefore, instead of censur- 
ing or thanking God for our afflictions, lei us help 
each other bear them as best we ran. There Is no 
danger of making too much happiness in this world, 
nor of being too good, save in our own conceit. 
Those serve God best who serve mankind, and 
honest deeds and helpful words will blossom and 
ripen when worship is forgotten. 

Even could we know that the present was the 
finale of life, we should be as earnest in well-doing 
as if an immortal crown awaited us. We Bhould do 
right for the sake of right, and not for reward. And 
if, in an immortal state, we enjoy the consciousn 
(if our noble efforts (as we surely will), all well. It 
will be far better for us than to carry with us a 
remorseful conscience. 

To some future life and spirit communion are as 
well established as any other fact-, though not ac- 
cepted by the multitude. Our purest and brig] 
intellects arc examining and acknowledging 

truths of Modern Spiritualism. And many who en- 
joyed them twenty and twenty-live year.- ago arc no 
doubt yet interested in the Bpirit world, — .In 
Edmonds among others. 

Many of our most profound thinkers and scien- 
tists, such as Professors Wallace, /o.-llncr, Varlcy, 
Denton, Crookes, Flanimarion, and Kiddle have 



O.) 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 



probed these phenomena to the core, and pronounce 
them sound. 

But in this small space I attempt to offer nothing 
but personal evidence, and that as evidence to me 
only. I wish to show some of my reasons for belief, 
that those who desire may seek and find also. Those 
who are happy in their convictions I will not disturb, 
and those who arc not I would fain comfort. I want 
to try and show that there are proofs of continued 
life and recollection of those we mourn as dead, even 
to obscured people Like myself, — that they are not 
dead, but arc individual, conscious beings, and can 
and do return. 

Even the tiniest little baby feet found their way 
from the shining shores to my home, and now, as I 
walk the ways of life, I see where those steps press 
the flowers in the pathway of the Hereafter. 1 thank- 
fully cull the blossoms as J go, kiss them tenderly, 
and slowly follow on. And all along the way I find 
^Hide-posts set by those passed on before, showing 
me the immortal road. 

Spiritualism opened up this new way to me, for its 
philosophy seemed so beautiful when I first read it 
that I determined to investigate its phenomena also. 
I decided that if even one of its much-abused raps 
were true there must be something intelligent asso- 
ciated with it. 

Raps made by no human I found; and, beginning 
carefully and patiently with them, I have followed 
other phases in the same way. 

"But," said some of my friends, "what good is 
Spiritualism?" I answer, what good is a butterfly? 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 23 

a moonbeam? a rainbow, or a wave of the sea? 
Whether they are good or not they exist. What 
good is a drunken man? the nasal twang of an ex- 
horter, or a last year's calendar? What good is the 
tooth-ache? a bone fellon? a broken leg? yet, who 
that has them doubts they are real? 

Spiritualism has much good in its teachings, but if 
it had none, it is true anyhow. 

It is not our experience that only good is in the 
world ; evil also exists, and where we find a fact, 
either good or bad, we should be honest enough to 
admit it. 

Spiritualism speaks through the grave, and tells us 
that this life is a school of experience, and that just 
in proportion to our mental and spiritual develop- 
ment here will be our condition hereafter, — that, if 
we are cruel and wicked, we cannot throw our sins 
on the innocent at the last moment, stretch our 
wings, and sail into paradise full-fledged angels, — 
that. such creatures are not to rest in " Abraham's 
bosom," or sit around the throne singing hallelujahs, 
and playing accompaniments on golden harps. But 
that, through the conscience, and clearer perceptions 
of justice and truth, we shall be punished in propor- 
tion to our misdeeds. We cannot progress in spirit 
till we repent of wrong, nor have full companionship 
of the pure till we are pure ourselves. 

Spiritualism teaches us the uncertainty of doing 
evil without detection as well as punishment. For, 
although we bar our doors against worldly things, 
we cannot close them against spirit. Invisible. pres- 
ences may witness every act; we may never be 



24 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

ALONE. It teaches us that, if our lives are pure 
enough for them to reach us, the innocent little 
cherubs we have lost here come to us daily, and thus 
keep us fresh in their memories. — that our spirit 
friends rejoice over all the good we do, and regret 
the wrong, thus giving us the greatest possible incen- 
tive to do right. For where are the parents who 
would knowingly take from the joys of their angel 
children? where the child who would consciously 
cause its parents to look back through the grave 
with reproachful eyes'/ where the true husbands and 

wives who would not live so that their heavenly com- 
panions could revisit them in peace? and where 
the human heart thai would not feel encouraged and 
happy to know it was Loved iii a higher sphere? 

Spiritualism teaches us to do our own thinking, and 
to shun any system of religion which forbids discus- 
sion or criticism, declaring that truth fears not inves- 
tigation. It teaches us that morality, justice, and 
humanity here insure peace and happiness hereafter. 
It lifts the soul out of the ruts of despair, and sets 
it on the fair mountains of hope; and opens the 
grave to let us pass into immortal joys. Yet, if it 
did none of these, and were true, we would have to 
accept that fact. 

" No," says the skeptic, " it is not true ; for, if spir- 
its returned, I know my friends would come to me. 
I '11 have none of your Spiritualism anyhow, for I 
know my friends could not be happy if they knew 
my sufferings. If there are spirits who come back, 
they are wicked spirits." The Christian always says 
that to me. He washes his hands of the whole busi- 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 25 

ness, and seems to think that will be the finale. He 
forgets that if the wicked go to hell (where the 
Church sends them) that they will not be at liberty 
to come to this world when they desire, — that Satan 
gives them no holiday. He forgets also that the 
orthodox heaven overlooks its roaring furnace of 
hell, and that the happy, psalm-singing saints see 
their lost families and friends among the flames, and 
yet they are happy ; that the pious husband can 
re-adjust his crown and tune his harp while his wife 
calls to him from below for "just one drop of 
water"; that the Christian mother can hear the 
cries of her children, and bless God because she is 
saved. Truly that must be a delightful (?) place. 
Yet Christians shudder at the terrible belief of Spirit- 
ualists. They avoid the dews of the garden, but 
wade the swamps to keep themselves dry. They 
find the rough mountain no impediment to their 
way, but groan piteously as they climb over the 
pebble. 

It may be, dear skeptic, that your spirit friends 
are anxious to come to you, but cannot. They 
require certain sensitive organizations through which 
to make themselves known. Unless we have such 
ourselves, we and the spirits have to depend on 
those who have. We must give them conditions, 
though conditions are precisely what you object to. 
Especially do you object to darkness, for you think 
that is purposely to hide fraud. Aud, yet, you 
believe a grain of wheat sprouts and grows, even 
though it require darkness to develope it. You do 
not call it a sham because it does not spring into 



26 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

form in the palm of your hand, — you give it condi- 
tions. You do not call the artist a " humbug" 
because lie requires darkness to complete his pict- 
ure. \ on do not deny the eclipse of the moon, even 
though you have the condition of darkness. 

These are things which we have to examine and 
accept under Nature's laws; and the spiritual phe- 
nomena are not outside of th< 

I have been as skeptical as any reasoning being 
could he, and had many heart-aelies and discourage- 
ments before the "conditions" grew satisfactory. 
Raps had to come on walls, pictures, and chairs, and 
give signs of intelligence before I could accept them. 
Independent voices, writing and spirit forms, had to 
take place under Mich conditions that no human 
agency could have produced them before I was 
entirely satisfied. These things had to occur, and 
occur often. Then, like most inexperienced 
investigators, I got the " mind-reading " bugbear 
after me. Written and verbal messages had to come 
about persons and subjects that J knew positively 
nothing about, and let me discover for myself if they 
were true. Often and often the friends and subjects 
which filled my whole thought were never alluded 
to, and others were brought up, showing that my 
mind was not read. 

On one occasion I was told some private matters 
which were taking place with a friend of mine in 
Europe. The story seemed perfectly improbable ; 
but I was told to wait and find out. In about two 
years and a half after, an acquaintance wrote and 
told me the same story, he having just learned the 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 27 

facts from responsible parties. What was " news " 
to us mortals had been known all along to the 
spirits. 

I have investigated with prominent true and false 
mediums, but will name here only those whom I 
believe to be true. I condemn none because others 
are false, nor uphold all because one is true. All 
must give personal proofs of power to convince me 
it is there. 

I give messages word for word to show how con- 
nectedly and naturally my little story runs along, 
and not because I suppose their purport of interest 
to strangers. The spirit names are not genuine, but 
everything else is. 



MRS. JENNIE HOLMES. 

She was the first public medium I ever met, and 
the time was about 1868. Her circle was large, and 
her manifestations were entirely physical. She sat 
in the dark, but under test conditions. While she 
sang and slapped her hands together in front of us, 
guitars, drums, bells, and other instruments were 
pounded on, and seemed to float over our heads. In 
many parts of the room, near the ceiling, lights 
appeared, which we were told were magnetic. The 
room was warm, the doors locked, and yet cool 
breezes passed over us occasionally. She repeatedly 
requested one man in the circle to put his foot down, 
and not break her guitar. He did not do it, but did 



28 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

break the instrument, although none of us could see 
the danger but the medium. 

In the summer of 1871 my good little niece Jen- 
nie passed to spirit life, leaving a husband and infant 
daughter! Ihr mother, my sister Lizzie, took the 
child home, and, in constant care of it, tried (o 
reconcile herself to Its mother's death, but all in 
vain. She was Bhocked and miserable. Id about a 
year after her little charge followed its mother, and 
she wept afresh for baby Hattie. Partly to satisfy my- 
self, and partly to convince my poor sister of her 
daughter's continued existence, J began hunting 
proofs. J tried to get raps, writing, or spirit pictures 
from her, or any trace that would give her sorrowing 
mother Borne hope of reunion; for, being a skeptical 
Christian, she really had no comfort. For two years 
I had no success; hut at the end of that time our 
darling baby-girl, little Bella, was taken away, and 
I had a new impetus for my work. Nothing on 
earth was ever sweeter than this child, and nothing 
more welcome, and no home darker than ours when 
she left it. Had it not been for this new light which 
was dawning upon us, and the comforting assurances 
of Prof. William Denton (who conducted the child's 
funeral services), I feel as if we would have been in 
utter despair. But, though we buried our bud of 
hcpe in the earth, it blossomed into spirit life, and 
has been ever since like a star in the heavens, light- 
ing us on our way. 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL KOADS. 29 

MRS. S. A. LINDSEY. 

When I read her card she was an entire stranger 
to me in all respects, and lived in New York city. I 
wrote a few words to Jennie, put it in an envelope, 
and sealed it. Then I stitched envelope and paper 
through and through with the sewing-machine two 
rows around, and four rows through the centre. In 
a few weeks it Avas returned with nothing torn or 
open, though I had purposely used the thinnest, 
poorest paper I could find. After working patiently 
with a pen-knife, cutting the stitches (and making 
sure they had not been re-sewed by hand), I found 
my note and its answer inside the letter, sewed 
through every fold. Here is a copy : — 

"My dear Aunt, — 

We are together, — your little, white 
lamb and I, and I wish I could tell you how happy 
we are. I am so glad you give me the chance to 
write you. The power is weak, and I have no more 
room on this paper. Come again ; do, do ! 

Lovingly, Jennie." 

This sewed letter could not have been opened 
without detection ; for, wherever I carefully drew 
or cut out a stitch, the embossed envelope had a 
hole in it, showing plainly that it could not be tam- 
pered with. 

In a few months I received assurance from a 
trance medium, who knew nothing of this matter, 
that the letter was genuine, and that Jennie cared 
for and loved my baby. 



30 GUIDE-POSTS OX IMMORTAL ROADS. 

In the spring of 1874, a strange lady visiting us 

wn.to a few sentences automatic-ally. She wrote for 
the baby, she Baid; and gave some of her peculiar 
child talk, which it was next to impossible for her 
to counterfeit. She described them, Hattie and Jen- 
nie, perfectly, giving the whole death scene of the 
latter, though it occurred fifty miles from my home, 

was not published in our papers, and was unknown 

to all the lady's acquaintances. 

She afterwards controlled my daughter May (a 
child of eight years) to write with planchette. 

This May did with much more ease and rapidity than 
writing in any other way; and not only the extra 
good penmanship hut the composition also was proof 
that May did not do the writing. The spirit con- 
trolling eventually gave his name, and proved to he 
a COUSin of May's, who died when she was an infant, 
and whose existence was unknown to the child. 
This spirit told us a great many things that hap- 
pened about people and circumstances which were 
totally unknown by May. he living a little distance 
in the country from us during life. Jle gave us 
many messages from little Bella, and also from a 
German girl who had lived in my family for four 
years. 

.May and a boy cousin of hers got writing by put- 
ting their hands on planchette together. To prove 
that mortal mind had nothing to do with it, we had 
one of the children repeat the multiplication table 
aloud while the other read aloud, but this din did 
not disturb the writing in the least. It came from 
people who left the body forty years before, and 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 31 

hundreds of miles from any of us, — people whose 
existence even was entirely unknown to these young 
mediums. 

Jennie used to control my husband to write with 
planchette, and sometimes we would conceal arti- 
cles in the next room to him, and the writing would 
tell us what they were. In the same way a neighbor's 
son and I once received writing. We got a name 
repeatedly, but knew no such person. A lady step- 
ping in said it was a spirit friend of her son's. 

I sometimes got writing when sitting alone. I 
often and often wrote the name "Edward," but 
knew no such spirit, though I afterwards heard of 
him. 



MISS CLARA ROBINSON. 

This lady lived in Memphis, and came among us 
a soft-eyed, fair-faced young girl. She gave hun- 
dreds of satisfactory slate-writings, but nvvself and 
family received only a few good tests from her. The 
first thing we did was to satisfy ourselves that she 
neither did nor could do the writing, but obtained 
it through spirit force. Once, while she and I pressed 
the slate to the underside of the table and were get- 
ting a message, my husband and Col. W came 

in the room. The writing said: " Mr. M ,gei us 

those double slates you were telling the Colonel 
about." It seems that on the way to the house Mr. 

M had remarked that he would get some double 

slates, but, of course, none of us knew what this eon- 



6Z GUIDE-POSTS ON 1MMUKTAL ROADS. 

versation was. We several times felt spirit hands 
under the table, and had them take off and put on 
rings .while the medium's hands were in sight. This 
was always done in daylight. 



MRS. MARY J. IIOLLIS. 

In the month of October, 1874, this lady came to 
Cairo, an entire stranger to every one here. She 
gave her first Beance "ii the evening of her arrival, 
about fifteen people being present. The room was 
darkened, and we sat in a horse-slioe circle, the medi- 
um being in front of us. Our hands and feet were 
at liberty to feel out in the darkness and "investi- 
gate,' 1 — which I suppose every one there did, — think- 
ing, perhaps, to catch something, or some one. But 
that expectation was not fulfilled. 

Whispered voices, independent of the medium, 
came and Identified themselves as our spirit friends. 
The first one was forme; hut, almost afraid that 
my ears deceived me, J waited for some one else to hear 
it also, which soon happened. The name of an 
infant brother was given, who died before I was 
born, and thirty-five years previous to that evening. 
His existence was unknown to every one present but 
myself and husband. He spoke of May, thus giv- 
ing knowledge of the child, which was entirely 
unknown to the medium. Every one present re- 
ceived tests, which was always the case in her pres- 
ence. 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMOETAL BOAD8. o'd 

The first slate-writing my husband and I had of 
her came independently, — that is, with the slate 
pressed closely against the under part of the table, 
the writing coming between the two, on the slate. 
A shawl was thrown over the slate and table, and 
while one of Mrs. Hollis' hands rested on top of 
the table, the other held the slate with only her wrist 
and thumb in sight. We sat, or stood, on the same 
side of the table watching her, and the afternoon's 
sunlight flooded the room as it came in the open 
window where she sat. Here is part of the mes- 
sage : — 

" You know I am not dead. May is at school. I 
would have gone had I lived. The spirits write for 
me. A B C D. I can do that myself. I will talk 
to 3-011 tonight. Aren't you glad? lam going to 
try, and Aunt Jennie will help me. She is my cousin, 
but I call her aunt. She takes care of me. Aunt 
Lizzie (her mother) does not believe. Yes, mamma, 
I am with you all the time. — Bella .Martin." 

"Aunt Lizzie " was living fifty miles from us, and 
had never heard of Mrs. Hollis, nor she of her, at 
the time of the writing. 

In our seance that evening, J. P., a citizen, whose 
remains awaited burial down town, gave us his 
name, saying: "I am J. P., who died today, — no, 
I 'm not dead either, but as much alive as I ever was. 
My wife's name is Juliet." 

No one present knew the lady's name, but, on 
inquiry next day, we found it true. 

On the second evening of Mrs. Hollis' stay at my 
house we had a cabinet seance ; and, an hour pre- 



34 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 



vious to it, three ladies, i n her presence, examined 
every article in the small, square English trunk 
which she brought with her. Then- was nothing 
there which could in any way serve her to exhibit 

the materialization which we witnessed, even had she 
taken the trunk into the Cabinet. I was present 
every time she made her toilet or retired, as that 
was the onlv time we had an opportunity of being 
together alone. I had the handling of her clothing, 
and know for certain that she carried nothing with 

her to make uj, "bogUS spirits*' with, had she" even 

been inclined to deceive, which she was not. 

We arranged a cabinet by stretching some shawls 
and cambric across one corner of our back parlor. 
When the medium first entered it the light was very 

low, hut we afterwards turned on three gas jets at 
lull head. They were in the front parlor, and the 
room which we occupied was connected by double 

doors. 

At the request of the control, all but four of us 
stood just inside those doors, and the four were 
within three and four feet of the cabinet window. 
After the curtain rose and fell several times, we saw 
an oblong light, which enlarged with each appear- 
ance till it grew into the size and form of a human 
face. It became plainer and plainer till it shone 
before us as the perfect image of little Bella. Four of 
us saw her twenty times, and eight persons saw her 
about half that many. Her sweet face changed in 
expression from an eager look to one of smiling con- 
tentment, just in proportion to our expressed doubt 
or certainty of her identity. My husband and three 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. oo 

others saw distinctly the color of her eyes and hair ; 
and one gentleman detected a tiny purple spot on 
her lip (caused by fever). He had no former 
knowledge of it, but I knew it was there, but could 
not see it. 

She only showed to the bust, and was more like 
illuminated statuary than anything I can think of, 
having the additional charm of emotional expression. 
Never before, and never again, could I see anything 
so lovely, unless it be the angel face of some immor- 
tal. No unbiased, well-ballanced person could wit- 
ness this manifestation and believe it fraud, because 
there was nothing about it that human ingenuity 
could invent. Even had it been a crayon picture, as 
some wiseacres tried to think it, we all know that 
pictures are flat, so that you cannot see around 
them ; and we all know that pictures do not change 
the expression of their faces. They could not in any 
sense represent what we saw. 

The next night we had a dark circle, in which 
James Nolan, the leader of Mrs. Hollis' band, spoke 
aloud for more than half an hour. Several of the 
leading professional gentlemen of our city questioned 
the control on various scientific subjects, and received 
immediate and intelligent replies, — replies which 
the most ardent admirer of the medium could not in 
all reason credit her with. Few women in the 
world, if any, have ever familiarized themselves with 
the subjects which James Nolan seems to master; 
and men of the linest advantages congratulate them- 
selves when they do not come out second best in 
conversing with him. 



36 (HIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

After this control was through talking, numbers 
of messages came for the fifteen or eighteen persons 
in the circle, and all claimed to receive excellent 
tests. And little Bella came, too; and her voice 
seemed so close to me thai I instinctively reached 
my arms out to clasp her, but could find no one. 
She began like this : — 

"Mamma, wake sister May up; I want her to 
hear me talk. [ May was by my side with her head 

in my lap, asleep.] EJncle I>- [my brother] is 

with me; and I love him so muchl lie is so good. 
Cousin Hattie [Jennie's baby] plays with me, and 

Ave love each other like sisters. You made such 
pretty wax flowers, and bung round my picture! I 
tore Bister's picture book once, and I was so sorry. 
[ remember all about it, and I remember all about 

the little ghost end the mouse-trap, too. ] recol- 
lect how the mouse put his head into it to cat 
the meat. I r. member his bright, little eyes, and 
his long tail. And. mamma, i did see a ghost 
on the stairs: and J was SO, 80 seared. It was Aunt 
Jennie, who wanted me to get acquainted with her 
before I came to the spirit world; but she was all 
white, and J was afraid of her. She was the first 
right white lady I ever saw. She is my mamma till 
you come. 1 must go. Gooddjy, sister ; good-by, 
mamma." 

In a moment we heard her voice on the other side 
of the room. "And now, papa, I come to you. Your 
brother, uncle A. J., is here. This is the first time 
he ever came to a circle. I have another uncle here, 
too; his name is M. Q. A. [Question by some of the 
audience: l Q is a queer letter; are n't you mis- 
taken, Bella? What does Q stand for in your 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 37 

uncle's name?'] "He says Q stands for quizzical. 
Aunt Jennie is my spirit mamma. Good-by, papa ; 
good-by, all." 

Such was part of the little one's story, though 
none could appreciate it as we did, who knew its 
truth. Once, and only once, in her life had the 
child been frightened; and that was when she was 
about eighteen months old. I sat sewing under a 
broad jet of gas, and the doors were all open. The 
baby was throwing her blocks and marbles and gath- 
ering them up and pouring them into my lap when 
she suddenly ran to me in terror, crying : " Mamma, 
Bella sees a ghost on the stairs ! " 

I tried to soothe her, and finally attempted to take 
her to the stairs to "show me the pretty ghost," but 
she was too much alarmed. I fancied she had seen 
her shadow, or some simple thing which I could 
explain. I afterwards inquired of my whole house- 
hold but could get no clue to her fears. I bade 
them not to refer to the matter in any way, hoping she 
would forget it after a night's sleep, but she never 
entirely forgot it. One day, when she spoke of the 
circumstance, I took the mouse-trap to her, with its 
dead prisoner in it. She was delighted with the 
history I gave her of it. So, to make it answer a 
purpose, I called it a "sweet little cjlwHtT That was 
all very well, but she would invariably add: "Bella 
scared at the lady ghost on the stairs." I have since 
heard often that she was quite clairvoyant, and I 
have no doubt she did see Aunt Jennie's ghost on 
the stairs, as "ghost" was a word we had no use 
for, and one she probably never heard. 



38 GTJIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

Afterwards, a lady, who was not in the circle, 
fcold me that twenty yean before this that she had 
known M. ( t ). A. in the State of Indiana, and had 
heard him laughingly remark that ki Q stood for 
quizzical" in his name. 

Of course, skeptics say that the medium did the 
talking herself, through a horn; bul that is not the 
case. J have beard the medium's voice and the spir- 
it's in one breath. I have also sat alone with Mrs. 
Hollis in a mom which contained nothing at all but 
ourselves and sonic chairs, and where I knew there 
were qo confederates. While I listened to her full, 

even respirations, I have heard the spirit voices. 
Even should we admit she does the talking, where 
and how could she gef the information she imparts? 
It would be impossible for any mortal to know all 
the simple, private, little affairs of our lives which 
are told us in seances. To account for it in that 
way would be total idiotcy. 

In this connection, an amusing thing happened 
about the fourth time I ever sat with Mrs. Hollis. It 
was in my own home, where we had been having 
wonderful and varied manifestations for several 
hours. Towards the close of the seance, it appeared 
to me that the medium's voice sounded nearer me 
than it ought, considering that I was in the middle 
of the half-circle. I could not understand it. Sev- 
eral times I had felt something touch my arm and 
the back of my chair, and while the last spirit was 
saying to us good-night, a gentleman shouted out 
that something had him by the foot. At the same 
instant I felt the touch again, and, catching at it, 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 39 

found myself possessed of something, I knew not 
what. The light was struck, and there I sat facing, 
and almost touching, the medium, and holding fast 
to a gentleman's slippered foot. I had been sitting 
in a child's chair, and had rocked myself entirely in 
front of the circle. In putting his foot out to "hunt 
the spirits," the gentleman had brushed my arm and 
chair. I am sure if the medium had attempted to 
rise and touch anyone, or whisper or talk, that she 
would have tripped over me and my chair. 

Like the novel-writers, I must ask my readers to 
" pass over " about four years, during which time I 
had many proofs of spirit power. One little circum- 
stance comes to my mind of a lady who came among 
us claiming to be a wonderful medium, but impress- 
ing us all as a fraud. She advertised largely, but 
did nothing for her audiences. I sat witli her just 
once, and she wrote (automatically) a message for 
me, which purported to be from the spirit of Dr. 
Young. It said that my infant son would be ill the 
following month, and told me what to do for him ; 
said if I sent for a physician, I would carry a life- 
long sorrow in my heart. I gave no heed, for I saw 
no proof of spirit in the message. We forgot the 
matter, and the following month the baby took vio- 
lently ill, and, frightened and helpless, we sent for a 
physician. It grew constantly worse, and, after 
nearly a week of the most intense suffering, the pre- 
cioufl baby found peace in its grave. When it was 
too late, we thought of the message, and — we carry 
the sorrow. 



40 (^IIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

To say the least, the strange woman ''guessed' 
well, — too well I think to be all fraud. 

Mrs. Mollis knew nothing of the birth or death of 
my Btarry-eyed darling, and [, wearing no crape, she 

could sec no outward signs of tins affliction about 

me when I stepped into her home. (Sister Lizzie 

had also gone to the spirit world, and met those for 

whom her heart so yearned. ) 

Aa SOOn as 1 sat down (alone) with .Airs. Ilollis, 

Skiwakee, her Indian control, began talking in a 

loud and distinct voire. Ho told me at onee that 

my two children were there, and described minutely 
the baby's illness, and everything connected with it; 

said this climate was no1 the proper one for it, or 

for my family, and advised us to Leave here. He 
gave me some very characteristic messages from M. 

Q. A. t.» a lady here, which 1 delivered; mentioned 
many names of spirits who wished to be remem- 
bered; sent his own Love to my family; and made 
somesu^i^tiniis about a patent barrel-machine of 
my husband's; told me he would invent other 
excellent things ; told me the exact condition of my 
family at home, so that I need have no anxiety while 
I was in Chicago. J lis conversation lasted about 
thirty minu; 

Little Bella then talked in her remarkably rapid 
though distinct way ; and I cannot refrain from giv- 
ing some of her sayings. 

"Mamma, mamma," she said, "I'm here with lit- 
tle brother. Isn't he exactly like my papa? Yes, 
he is ; and he's so sweet, and has such pretty, large, 
soft eyes. He is n't sick any more ; and, mamma, 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 41 

you must not cry so much for him. If you could 
see how happy be is, you would he so glad, and 
never, never cry any more. Aunt Jennie is his 
mamma, too ; and he is her hahy-boy till you come 
to us. Did n't he have such pretty flowers about 
him when he went away, and his little clothes were 
so soft and nice. lie was lying on his side, and 
looked almost as if he was asleep ; and in one hand 
you put a wee boquet, and in the other you hid his 
little rattle. We all liked his spiritual funeral so 
well, and the pretty baby song, and Lucy sang it so 
sweetly. You and papa know your little children 
are not dead, and you never do let the preachers get 
up and say dreadful things, do you? I saw every- 
thing only the grave. I could n't see the baby put 
in that, for I knew it would make you and papa 
wish you were there too, and I knew you had to 
live. 

Old Aunt Betty [colored] was so good to little 
brother and me, too. I 've not forgotten her. Give 
her my love and a kiss — Oh, mamma! }'ou never 
kissed her in your life, did you? Poor Aunt Betty ! 
I used to kiss her, and she kissed little brother, and 
— and, mamma, /do n't mind it, /kiss her yet. 

Aunt Lizzie is here. You know that she came 
lately. We sent Cousin Hattie to meet her first, 
and she put her arms around her grandma's neck 
and loved her and loved her, and that 's what made 
auntie know she was here. Kiss papa, and sister, 
and auntie, and uncle, and dear grandma for me ; 
and tell papa I love him a barrel. I say that, you 
know, because he made a barrel-machine. You must 
not grieve for fear little brother will forget you, for 
we will not let him. We bring him to you every 
day. Only try to be happy, mamma, so that when 
we come, we can bo happy, too. Dear mamma, J 
love you. Do n't, do n't grieve any more. Good-by." 



42 GUIDE-POSTS on IMMORTAL BOADB. 

After this, Jennie and her sweet littlechild talked 
with me, and assured me of their affection for my 
adopted little ones. Hattie added : k - 1 want to 
something specially. I want you to know thai I'm 
Qotonebil jealous of your children. There *s love 
in mamma's heart for all, and we're all so happy 
here." 

jter Lizzie came, calling me by my first name in 
her own peculiar accent, saying: "It 's true, — it's 
true,— it's true! Ail you told me about the spirit 

world; and what little I knew Of it has 0660 useful 

to me. Give my love t.» mother, and tell father it's 

tin.'. Be sure and tell him, lor he is coming soon 

[which was true ]. Give my love t«» my dear daugh- 
ter. She "11 imt believe it, hut tell her anyhow. 

She doefl imt keep 111 \ lluWer -Ml'deil as Well ;i> I 

used t.>; l. ui I don't blame her, for it "s so much 
work. Poor girl, she is so lonesome now. Tell her 
1 have all the flowers I want here. Sister, good-by. 

Jt V true,— it 's 80 bright and true I " 

This happy spirit seemed perfectly overcome with 
the beautiful realities of her new life, and the actual 
knowledge of spirit communication. I often hear 
from her yet, and it is always in some characteristic 
way. 

I had several other seances within a week, and all 
were as full of comfort and interest as they could be. 
In one, a light as large as a pint cup built up before 
ine, and the medium said it was my little ones trying 
to show themselves. The light gradually dissolved 
in reach of my hand. 

I cannot more briefly describe another matter 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 43 

which happened than by quoting a few words from 
a letter I had published. (Skiwakcc is known 
among his friends by the name of Ski, and a noble 
old fellow he is.) 

"Ski came and gave a good many tests ; among 
others, the Masonic signs to some gentlemen of that 
fraternity. This was one of the most wonderful 
manifestations I ever heard of. The seance con- 
tained some eight or ten persons, three or four perhaps 
being Masons, and they sat beside others as chance 
or choice dictated. Ski promised to give the tests in 
words, and that none present but the Masons should 
hear him. We all listened intently, but not a word 
did anyone hear except the Masons themselves. 
Ski pressed them to say k yes ' or 4 no,' whether 
they had received satisfactory tests or not ; and all 
said '"Yes."' 

Since these gentlemen were known to be reliable, 
intelligent men, and some of them, perhaps all, influ- 
ential citizens, we are obliged to believe them, no 
matter how singular the facts appear. 

When we inquired of the Indian how he could 
speak without being heard by all, he said he "stuffed 
magnetism in our ears." 

In this seance I heard spirit-singing for the third 
time in my life. The spirit mother of a gentleman 
present sang "Shells of Ocean," speaking every 
word distinctly. 

Once in my own home a spirit child and May sang 
a piece of music through, one voice being about as 
strong as the other. 

These are only a portion of the manifestations I 



44 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

have witnessed in presence of Mrs. Hollis ; all others 

were just as good. 

In a Little village a few miles from my home I 
once sat with a little girl medium. She became par- 
tially entranced, and described Bella and Hattie 

fully: and I knew she had never seen either one of 
them in the form. She said Bella held something in 

one hand which she pointed to with the other. tfc It 
is a light M she said, w> in shape of the letter Q. No, 
now it is changed into a square block like those 
children play with, and it has the letter OD it. Bella 
says she knows it is (,), because it has a crooked tail 
to it; that Q is a black Q." 

The day of my child's death, while I held her on 
my lap. she had me pile her blocks on a book while 
she tried to play with them. Taking one in her lit- 
tle feverish hand she held it up for me to see, saying: 
u Mamma, I know (,) today, because it has a crooked 
tail." 

No one was present ; and. from what I can learn, 
the story never passed my lips. In fact, at that time 
I could not bear to talk of these matt 

After my return home, I examined the blocks, 
which were painted in mixed colors, and I found the 
letter Q on only two of them, and both black. The 
blocks had been under lock and key ever since the 
baby hands which played with them were cold. In 
a few weeks after this I had a nice, little note from 
her in which she asked me not to give her blocks 
away. I never have. 

Once an eastern lady (with whom I had no 
acquaintaince at all) was having a seance with a 



GUIDE-POSTS OX DOfOBTAL LOADS. 45 

medium, when Bella came to her and begged her to 
send a message to her parents, giving our address. 
The lady kindly did so. 

I have felt many supposed spirit hands in dark cir- 
cles, and had musical instruments, fans, keys, rings, 
combs, slates, and various other articles in the room 
put in my lap, on my head, or in my hand when 
there was no 2^>ossible chance for fraud from any party 
in the room. I believe spirits did this ; when there 
tvas chance for deception, I made up my mind that I 
did n't know anything about the powers at work. 

Once, when I sat with my chair-back square 
against the wall, and felt repeatedly little hands 
coming from behind my chair, caressing my face and 
neck, I believed they were spirit hands. In inde- 
pendent writing, obtained soon after this message 
was written : " Let me write for your darling Lamb. 
— Grandma L — ." I gladly consented, and received 
this test: "Mamma, it was I who showed myself to 
you in presence of Mrs. Hollis, and it was I who 
came and put my hands on you. — Bella." Here the 
child comes through other mediums (as she often 
does) and endorses Mrs. Hollis' powers. 

I once visited a city where I was a total stranger 
to every one, and had a seance with a lad}- who was 
being developed for independent writing. The table 
had to be darkened with a cloth, and the medium 
held one end of the slate underneath, and I held the 
other. Had she let go for one moment, and tried to 
use a pencil herself, the slate would have dropped to 
the floor, for, part of the time, I was purposely not 
giving it proper support. We would put a pencil on 



4(J QUIDS-POSTS ON EMMOBTAL ROADS. 

the slate, and the slate would be twisted, pulled, 
and turned in every direction so no pencil could stay 
on; and it would be gone when we looked for it. 
Finally we put none on, but got just as good writ- 
ing. Questions written on paper, and put under 
the table, would be answered correctly and the 

papers thrown out; though we knew the medium 
could not use one band only, and do that and hold 
the shite, too. 

The first thing we had was raps, which spelled 
out the name "Bella Martin." Then we had writ- 
ing from her and her Cousin Elbe. Six of us sat round 
the table, yet the blessed baby had the power of 

making herself known at once, and of brightening 
my soul with this sweet assurance: "I love you." 
No difference where I go, if there be present an 
organism through which she can work, she conies to 

me. She assures me that she is not gone, but only 
lost to sight. 

"Atnl ever near us, though unseen, 

Their dear, immortal spirits tread ; 
For all the boundless universe 
Is life — there are no dead ! " 

One spirit wrote : " Tell John that lam not dead." 
One of the ladies present said her husband was 
named John, so it must be for him. On further 
inquiry we got the spirit's name, and found that her 
message was for a gentleman living in Texas, and 
that she was his wife ; and we sent the message to 
him. 

All spirits seem to have a great objection to being 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 47 

called dead, and invariably deny it. They say : 
" We are the real, and you are the shadows," which, 
in my opinion, is true. 

Before Sister Lizzie died, her daughter once gave 
this message to me for her. " Tell ma that Hattie 
and I are here, and would be glad to have the same 
chance to communicate with her that we have with 
you. Tell her we have found a beautiful and happy 
home here among the angels. — Jennie." She also 
addressed for my benefit : " The letter about the 
blocks was written by the spirits for Bella." 

M. Q. A. once wrote my maiden name in a bold, 
familiar style. I asked him whether it was a name 
or a word ; as, in either case, it seemed peculiar. 
The reply was : " That was the name of your moth- 
er's daughter." Of course, I agreed with the witty 
writer. 



DR. HENRY SLADE. 

I have never seen this gentleman nor Mr. Foster, 
but it serves my purpose to mention a few items from 
investigations had with them by my husband. He 
was an entire stranger in New York city when he 
stepped into Dr. Slade's parlors. He examined care- 
fully room, floor, chairs, slate, table, and all, but 
found nothing unfair about them. In the broad 
glare of day the two sat at one end of a long table 
and the slate stood up on the other, out of reach of 
them both; and in that position writing was done. 
Mr. Martin also held the slate on the top of his 



48 <;r ide-posts on immoktal roads. 

head, and the writing still came, and came from 
familiar persons. Jennie and Bella were both heard 
from. At my husband's request the tabic (with 
largo felling leaves ) rose, flapped its leaves like some 
mammoth bird its wings, and lighted on his head; 
but swung there so lightly that he was not hurt, 
When it sat down again, spiri( hands by the dozen 
came from under it. patting, shaking, and caressing 
him,-— small, large, and tiny hands. An acoordeon 
waa played by invisible hands, and chairs changed 
position over the mom without human control. Dr. 
Slade has been proven a wonderful medium by the 
best scientists of this age. 



CHARLES II. FOSTER. 

Mr. Foster and my husband had never met before 
when the latter entered Mr. Foster's rooms, and pre- 
pared questions on slips of paper. Among others 
were these: "What materializations did I lately 
witness?" The answer was : "The baby." He asked 
again: "What baby?" Answer: "Your baby, lit- 
tle Bella. She showed herself through Mrs. Hollis' 
mediumship in Cairo." 

Mr. Foster gave names of friends on both sides of 
life. Gave the whole history of the death of my 
husband's brother, Ernest; said it was accidental, 
which was true. 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 49 

MRS. N. D. MILLER. 

In the summer of 1874, I think, Mrs. Miller, of 
Memphis, gave one seance in this place. It was 
entirely physical, but given under the best test con- 
ditions, and was good. With her hands put through 
the backs of chairs, and sealed and tied securely, 
spirit hands and handkerchiefs were waved from the 
cabinet window. When she came out, the seals were 
intact. Her slate-writings were very satisfactory to 
the recipients, but when I went for a writing, she 
was very ill, and left the city in a few hours. I 
regret that I have never seen her since. 



J. H. MOTT. 

This gentleman was so unfavorably situated while 
in this city that we had no satisfaction with him. 
Two forms called us to the cabinet and gave names, 
but the forms were not recognized, and the names 
were so well known they were no test. The room 
was entirely too dark to make a certainty of any- 
thing to be seen. We have no doubt but Mr. Mott 
is a good medium, but we have no personal knowl- 
edge. Numbers of intelligent, honest people of our 
acquaintance have visited Mr. Mott in his own home, 
and declare him an honest, satisfactory medium, I 
have no doubt of this, and hope 1 yet to realize it for 
myself. 



50 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

MRS. JENNIE L. WEBB. 

In 1875 I saw Mrs. Webb's card, and wrote: 
"Please send me the result of a sitting," signing my 
name and enclosing money. 

Her answer was : "A little girl appears, and says 
she is very happy, and would like to shoiv herself 
again to her papa and mamma as she did once before. 
[Another proof of her materialization.] Says she 
will try to write sometime to you. This child says 
she is yours ; and a bright and beautiful spirit she 

is." 

Then followed quite a good little letter from a 
spirit calling himself Edward, in which he gave a 
fine reading of my character. 

I wrote her again, but told her nothing. I only 
asked her to describe any spirit friends she might 
see ; and enclosed a small lock of hair, the inference 
being that she would get my magnetism. In her 
answer we recognized grandma L. (and her Bible) 
and Bella, both descriptions being good. She said 
the hair I sent belonged to a man and woman, which 
was true. I cut -the hair from two different heads, 
and had the little lock not over two inches long ; 
and no mortal eye could detect a difference in color 
or quality. 

I told some of my friends of Mrs. Webb, and she 
wrote to four besides me. I then took one of Bella's 
photographs, tore the back off, put it in an envelope 
without a word of comment, and had a friend direct 
it to Mrs. Webb. In a few days it was returned to 
me with the assurance that it was my child's pict- 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 51 

ure. If Mrs. "Webb had been " guessing," she may 
as well have sent it to anyone else here as to me. 
She also enclosed some verses which she said the 
child wrote. Some of the letters were turned back- 
wards, but all could be read plainly. Mrs. Webb 
sent the paper just as (she said) the child printed it 
in block letters. 

" Would you have us come back, dear mother, 
And leave our glorious home ? 
Though wc love you dearly, mother, 
From Heaven we would not come. 

Your world is very fair, mother, 

With its sunny hills and glades ; 
But ours is fairer far, mother, 

Its beauty never fades. 

Then we '11 rejoice, dear mother, 

That on earth I closed my eyes, 
For I will guide your steps, mother, 

To our home beyond the skies. 

I learned to write up in Heaven. — Mother's Little Girl." 

Now, I do not give that as poetry, but I must say 
it is quite good enough for a child of four years, as 
the writer was at that time. I cannot even say that 
I know it was written by a spirit, but taking all 
things into consideration, I do believe it, and I also 
have reasons for believing the medium perfectly 
honest. 

She and four or five other mediums have returned 
my money when they failed to get writing. If they 



52 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL 110ADS. 

were frauds, they would never do so foolish a thing 
as that. 

A lady friend of mine, who lived in the spiritual 
faith, has repeatedly sent remembrances from the 
summer-land. She once sent word through a South- 
ern medium. She said she was very happy in her 
new life, and expressed great desire for one of her 
i to sit in seances, so she could come to him. 
She sent me a message through a letter I had from 
Jennie once, the letter being a beautiful one indeed. 



DR. E. J. WITHERFORD. 

In Jan., 187G, I wrote a note to Dr. Witherford, 
and asked him to send me any independent writing 
he could get. I knew nothing of him except as I 

read his advertisement, and I told him nothing about 
my affairs in any way. Here is what he sent: — 

"Dear mamma: You are glad to know I can 
write. Uncle W. helps me. We did try to make 
you understand that we Avere with you at Mrs. Hol- 
lis', but could not kiss you as you wished. 1 do long 
to hug you and sit in your lap again. But, mamma, 
I am often with you, and try to make you feel my 
hand on your head when you are alone. Good-by, 
and God bless you. I send my love to you and papa 
and " 

Here the writing was too indistinct to read; but, 
short as it was, it showed that my darling had been 
conscious of my efforts to reach her. I had a short 






GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 53 

time before sent a stitched letter to Mrs. Hollis, but, 
alter keeping it a month, she returned it unanswered. 
In that letter to the child I had asked her to kiss me, 
and to that she refers in this note. 

In Jul.y, 1877, I went to Chicago, and had several 
seances with Dr. Witherford, and was extremely 
cautious not to give him the faintest idea that I had 
ever written him. While we each sat holding the slate, 
he described my children and some of my relations 
who were present. He also gave me a close descrip- 
tion of my own especial guide (he said) Edward, and 
another renowned immortal, who was in the spirit 
world many years before I was born, and who claims 
to be an earnest friend of mine. 

Numbers of them wrote me ; among others dear 
Aunt Eliza, whom I had not heard from before since 
she made " sugar pies" for me in her Ohio home. 
Here is one of her letters : — 

" My dear, I am glad you are so zealous in this 
work. Go on, God bless you, and we will help you. 
Dear Ellie is here, and wishes to write you. Your 
guide, Edward, is a noble spirit. If you do as he 
wishes, you will be happy in your work. Tell your 
husband I often visit you in your pleasant home, and 
give him my love. I was surprised to hear you tell 
this medium that you had forgotten me. Your lit- 
tle ones are here, and send love and kisses to their 
mamma. Remember me at home. 

Affectionately, Aunt Eliza." 

Then came a note from Edward, who had written 
me long ago through other mediums. 



54 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

" Dear Lady : — 

It is quite a task for us to try to con- 
trol your mind, but an agreeable one. I wish you 
to continue my life work for me, if you are willing 
to submit to our conditions. I could soon control 
you to write, I think, and you could do good work 
for us. Ynu are only wasting time by resistance. 
1 once read your life at Mrs. Webb's. We wish to 
use your mind for the good of the human race. 

Edward.'' 

These letters all had the lull name Bigned. 1 had 
another message, in which this spirit referred to the 
note which Mis. Liudsey answered for me, and which 
was stitched with the machine. Said he helped con- 
centrate power for Jennie to write. 

In Dr. Witherford's cabinet seances, men, women, 
and children cam.' out, talked, and dematenaiize I 
(or seemed to) before IIS. We all examined the 
cabinet thoroughly before be I it; and, at his 

request, gentlemen in the Beance took oil' and 
searched every particle of clothing he had on, and 
found nothing objectionable. Once, while a friend 
and I were there, and she was getting writing, an- 
other spirit took control and wrote this message: — 

" Please give my regards to Mrs. Jacob Martin. 

S. S. Jones." 

The lady asked the doctor for an explanation of 
this, and he siid I was the lady addressed, though I 
am confident he could not know me save through 
spirit intelligence. Mr. Jones will be recognized as 
the editor (before his death) of the Religio-Philo- 
sophical Journal, 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL IIOADS. 55 

If Dr. Witherford ever played false, as the papers 
said, it must have been through the evil influences 
of that dapple chap with whom he became associ- 
ated, for one had but to see him to know that he 
was highly sensitive and impressional ; and I do not 
wonder that his misfortunes were more than he could 
bear. 



MRS. A. J. CROSSE. 

As soon as I read that lady's card, I wrote to her, 
and she gave me many facts, described Bella, Grand- 
ma L., and others ; described me mentally and 
physically, — which, by the way, has often been done 
by other mediums ; told me Bella saw the spirit of 
her aunt on the stairs, thus endorsing the story as 
told before ; said my husband was an inventor, and 
told what patents he had; told what Bella wished 
done with an especial article of hers; mentioned 
many entirely domestic matters, which no one out- 
side the house could know, much less a strange per- 
son in Boston; predicted an unexpected marriage 
in my family, which took place three weeks after- 
ward; and, in various ways, convinced me of some 
intelligence outside of hers being present. 



E. V. WILSON. 

This renowned lecturer and seer was in Cairo 
over a month, and large crowds greeted him as a 
speaker and clairvoyant. He told hundreds of peo- 



56 GUIDE-POSTS O.N IMMORTAL KOADS. 

pie events in their lives which he could not have 
known, giving dates, places, and names correctly. 
Their spirit friends were minutely described, and 
some of the must secret parts of fcheir personal his- 
tory were nightly given the audiences. All seemed 
astonished at these farts, and none denied them, 
save a few whose records wen- not Immaculate. 



BASTIAN AM) TAYLOR. 

In 1877 I had a seance with these mediums, under 
the usual test conditions, and have since visited 
them with no especial results. Many forms ap- 
peared, hut the lights were too poor for them to be 
well distinguished. One came for me, and had the 
lights changed three or four times, so that we might 
see better, but I could not recognize her. She came 
out into the room several times, hut seemed unable 
to bear the light. At another medium's, who knew 
nothing of this, I was told by independent voice 
that it was Jennie, which wa, probably true. I have 
no means of deciding. The physical manifestations 
in the dark circles seemed to me extremely weak. 



CHARLES E. W ATKINS. 

In Dec, 1876, this young man came to my home 
and gave us the names and descriptions of most of 
our spirit friends before he had been there three 
hours. Little children, entirely unknown to our 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 57 

citizens, came and talked to us, — one little one 
reminding me of making a wreath for her coffin 
years and years ago. She had a very unusual name, 
but it was given with no trouble. 

While Mr. Watkins and I held the slate close 
against the table, with only a grain of pencil on it, 
messages, of a great variety of styles in penmanship 
and composition, came. The first ones were from 
M. Q. A., and were of the same peculiarly sparkling 
style which he used in this life. The next was this : 



" We come bringing you the olive branch of peace 
this morning, and we trust that love and prosperity 
will always be yours. That you may realize the 
truth of the saying that they are all ministering 
angels to you, I must close. 

Yours in love, Jennie." 



Across the face of this, and written from the oppo- 
site side, were the names of two other friends whom 
I had known well. 

The next writing was on a double slate, which 
opened like a book, and which my husband prepared 
to suit himself. The medium sat on the opposite 
side of the table from me, neither touching it, the 
slate, or me, but idly rocking himself as if he were 
unconscious of what was transpiring. The sunlight 
was nil over the room, and I held the slate about a 
foot above the table, and listened and looked at it 
just as I pleased while the writing went on. It was 
in a round, small hand, and quite beautiful, and was 
from Dr. Henry Slade's spirit wife. It was this : — 



6S GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

"My dear friend, we come to greet you with words 
of good cheer and love, and to prove through this 
young man's mediumship that my husband is inno- 
cent and honest. Tell the world just how you got 
this. Your friend, A. W. Slade." 

After I washed the slate, never letting the medi- 
um have it for one moment, we put a hit of pencil 

inside, tied the slate over and across with hemp 
cord, sealed it at every knot (eight times), and the 
medium and I held it over the table again. The fol- 
lowing appeared : — 



o l 



"Tell Jacob that I am here, and that I am anx- 
ioua to do all I can toward helping on this new 
truth. Although he did not once think I could 
return, still I do. Tell him, when he reads this, 
that I am alive. MARTIN." 



This bore the full name of my husband's father, 
ami was the first writing we ever had from him, and 
was very welcome. 

My daughter May and the medium put their 
hands on the slate, and she received a long message 
from one of her former school-mates. The father of 
this little spirit wrote to me, and sent word to his 
family, giving each of their names. Said he did n't 
believe in Spiritualism when he lived neighbor to 
me, but had since changed his mind. 

Mr. Watkins also sat for dark circles, and some- 
times under very strong test conditions. With 
heavy gloves on his hands, and the gloves sewed 
fast all around to his coat sleeves, and the coat 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 5D 

sewed fast together, so he could not pull it off, 
manifestations went on in his circle anyhow, — the 
usual touch of spirit hands — which had no gloves 
— and other physical phenomena. 

As a slate-writer, Mr. Watkins is an entire suc- 
cess, and well worthy the attention of honest inves- 
tigators. 



MRS. M. E. WEEKS. 

I had only one seance with this medium. She 
gave some very convincing proofs of her clairvoyant 
powers. She spoke of one good-natured friend of 
ours, who confessed his strong love of money while 
on earth. He regretted that he had not done more 
good with it, and said he would n't even wear 
decent clothes, though he was qnite wealthy ; de- 
scribed a ridiculous old coat he wore to church 
once, and we knew from some of his family that this 
was true. 

An old lady identified herself as one who had 
known my husband when he was only three or four 
years old. She told him of matters happening then, 
and finally gave her name, and he recollected her. 
She lived and died in the old country, so that skep- 
tics can hardly think Mrs. Weeks was acquainted 
with her; and especially unreasonable this seems 
when I assure them that the old lady died before the 
medium was born. 

My mother-in-law came and referred to a favorite 
verse in the Bible, and said she understood it now 



60 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

as being explanatory of Spiritualism. A lady who 
has come to me with an infant in her arms in vari- 
ous dark circles came again, and was able to iden- 
tify herself, and explain her anxiety to be known. 
Mrs. Weeks knew nothing of us, and does not know 
to this day whom we were. 

Once when Thomas dales Forster (a very promi- 
nent .scholar and lecturer) was in a circle in Balti- 
more, little Bella went to him and dictated a note 
which she asked him to have published, and he 
kindly did so. It was just a little message of love, 
in which her favorite uncle, aunt, and grandma were 
not forgotten. She gave family names quite cor- 
rectly, and also her parents' lull address. One of 
her ancles was an editor, and, finding this letter in 
an exchange, he handed it to us. 

Another time when tin- reporter of the R. P. 

Journal was having a seance, she came to him, and 
gave a communication for his paper. In this case, 
also, was she kindly dealt with. I will make an 

extract from this message: — 

"I was a little girl. I gave sunshine to mamma 
and papa at home, and little sister ; but I went 
away one October day, and left my physical form. 
But I did not die ; for every day I visit my home in 
Cairo, 111., and place my wreath of flowers upon my 
mother's brow. And little sister looked so often in 
the picture at my face, and the tears stand in her 
eyes when she thinks she will have to cross the river 
to see that baby face again." 

In this letter she spoke of two cousins who were 
with her, and also of her baby brother, giving his 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 61 

name, and speaking of his beautiful eyes. She said 
he was brought to us awhile every day. 

In a few months after this well-loved lady's death 
Bella went to a seance and sent a message to us. 
She said for us not to grieve so much for our lost 
darling, for another baby would come to take his 
place in our affections, — that Aunt Lizzie told her 
so. She begged us to give the child the name she 
wished, mentioning one that was never heard by us, 
except in one case. We never knew why she 
selected it. In about sixteen months after she sent 
the name, the baby came to wear it, and our whole 
souls seemed blossomed out into happiness and con- 
tentment. Two weeks before the child was born, 
Ski sent word from Europe, to call our boy the same 
name already sent by Bella, which we did of course. 
This u spirit child," as the immortals often called him, 
waa foretold by numbers of spirits, in presence of dif- 
ferent mediums, and was really a child of prophecy. 
All our immortal friends seemed to share our joy 
and interest in him, and Ski adopted him as his 
especial charge. They all sent congratulations as 
often as possible, apparently never losing sight of 
our treasure. Thus was he momently watched and 
loved from both sides of life till he grew into our 
hearts like their very fibres, and we could seemingly 
look at no object in life save through his image. In 
frightened remembrance of our other losses, we 
tried not to build too much hope on this noble boy, 
but he was so strong, loving, gentle, and baby-wise, 
that we could not help it. Day after day he seemed 
growing into the close resemblance of little Bella, 



62 GUIDE-POSTS OX IMMORTAL ROADS. 

and I think we loved him for her sweet sake as well 
as his own. We shrank from imagining life without 
him, — in fact, there seemed no life to us where he 
was not. 

As he became older, we found that he had a very 
sensitive and impressional organization, and that his 
finely-intuitive mind gained much of its power from 
the spiritual side of Nature. His physical, though 
rarely and wonderfully developed, could not keep 
pace with his mental growth, though the combina- 
tion seemed as nearly perfect as earthly things can 
be. In his third year, happy and fearless and bright, 
he was suddenly stricken with fever, and we had to 
see him passing away from us, day by day, hour by 
hour, with no relief till he found it in another world. 

And we 1 dare not think what we would do did 

we believe a revengeful God had given us this life- 
long blow. I know our whole souls would rise up 
in rebellion against the hand that would strike out 
of life that which makes it most pure, tender, and 
humane, — that which cultivates in us all that is 
sweetest and truest in human nature. 

I know not how we could live without the balm 
of hope, as given in the harmonial philosophy. 
Eternal separation from those we love would be too 
much to bear. As it is, though we feel how deso- 
late and incomplete our lives are, we have the satis- 
faction of knowing that, at most, they cannot be long. 
So, Ave strive to do our parts with cheerful courage 
and patience till we gain freedom from these earthly 
forms. We close our eyes in sleep, saying thank- 
fully to ourselves: " One day nearer them." We 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL UOADS. 63 

know if we are called away before the morning that 
it will be to those we love, and we have no moment's 
fear. We know that somewhere in the shining 
future a compensation waits, and that in the peace- 
ful summer-land three smiling cherubs keep the 
gates ajar for us. 



MRS. KATE BLADE. 

I have had some splendid independent writing 
through the powers of this agreeable and intelligent 
lady. Jennie, Edward, Lizzie, and others have writ- 
ten during my several seances with her. One lady, 
whom I will call Gertrude, sent word to her family, 
and made to us (privately) some very startling per- 
sonal revelations. We could not credit her at first, 
for everything she told us necessarily lowered her 
in our estimation, but she seemed happier for mak- 
ing a "clean breast of it." Poor girl, I feel sorry 
for her ; for I think her sins were bestowed on her 
mostly as a birth-gift. 

This remorseful spirit followed us from one medi- 
um to another, and told the same sad story, and 
made us wish that we could help her to content- 
ment; but we felt powerless. She had known us in 
lifetime, and she seemed unable to let us leave a me- 
dium without assuring us afresh that what she told 
was true. I have received in letters from other 
spirits voluntary statements regarding Gertrude, 
which conveyed the same information that she gave, 
— statements in which her name and full descrip- 



64 <.r IDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

tion were given. In looking over her past, we can 
now see where her story is in harmony with things 
which we could not understand before. 

Sister Lizzie wrote very sympathetically about 
our sorrow, and said all in her power to alleviate it. 
Jennie did the same, and sent love to her only 
sister. 

Mrs. Blade is a pleasant lady and good medium. 



MRS. MAUD E. LORD. 

We know from nearly all sources but experience 
that this beautiful lady is a wonderful medium. We 
sat in two of her dark circles, and heard others 
receive wonderful proof of spirit return. One of 
my little ones put his little hands in mine several 
times, called me "mamma," and tried to materialize 
right at my chair, but could not quite succeed. We 
saw the light of his spirit, but it could not take on 
human shape. Next day, at another medium's, inde- 
pendent writing told us about him. We found that 
it was our "starry-eyed darling," as we love to call 
our boy with the large, splendid eyes. 

Our second sitting was going on nicely, and many 
people were getting good manifestations when they 
were destroyed by the conduct of some rough chaps 
who went t% for fun." After a few minutes of 
patient trial, the medium declined sitting, and 
refused pay from all present. We went away quite 
disappointed, and bewailing the fate that kept us 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 65 

out of her private circles. Those are said to be 
delightfully harmonious and satisfactory. 



MRS. ELDRIDGE. 

I had a seance with this lady in St. Louis. She 
requests investigators to write questions on slips of 
paper, and put them on the slate for an answer. We 
had word from five or six of our relations; and one 
of them gave us the name of our little son who had 
jnst left us. Ski (being her control) referred to an 
unsatisfactory message he had given us with another 
medium, and gave us his reasons for doing no better. 
A note was written to my mother, which we brought 
home to her. 

The seance was pleasant, and so was the lovely 
little medium; but I do not enjoy writing for the 
spirits as well as to have them come without any 
suggestions. 



MRS. DE WOLF. 

This lady is a good trance medium ; and here my 
Sister Lizzie, father, and father-in-law came to com- 
fort us about our dear child, and my mother-in-law 
(who was one of the best women on earth) said she 
had the guidance of him in his new life. 

Mrs. l)e Wolfs control told us a great many 
things about our business affairs, which showed her 



66 GUIDE-POSTS ON [MMOBTAL ltOAOS. 

well posted. I have had three sittings with this me- 
dium, and all satisfactory. 



A lady and gentleman who are almost entire 
strangers to us Informed us today of a seance they 
had with a medium whom we had never heard of 
before. In Independent writing, Bella sent some 
yerses, and talked by independent voice. She told 

them of a little gift ±\ir oiiee had, and the peculiar 

list- made of it. She also told them precisely what 

her .sister and I were doing at the time, which was 

undoubtedly true. She gave the investigators them- 

selv. ;1 good te>ts, one ahoiit a ring, and one 

about an umbrella. 



MRS. U. C. SIMPSON. 

We were strangers to this lady, and the first words 
on the slate proved that the spirits knew us, if she 
did not. Her writing is obtained with the slate 
against the under part of the tahle, just as I have 
said Mr. Watkins' was, with no possible chance of 
deception. Her table is simply a stout board about 
two and a half feet long by one foot wide. (I am 
only guessing at proportions.) Four pegs hold it, 
and are dignified by the name of table legs. 

She refused to sit until we had examined the room 
and everything it contained, and positively forced 
me to search her and her clothing. While she was 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 67 

holding the slate and telling us the history of Ski 
(one of her controls), he was writing and claiming 
us as old friends. He seemed delighted to meet us, 
and asked me to write a note for him to a gentleman 
in Louisville. I had never before heard the name 
he gave me, but found afterwards that it belonged 
to a very prominent man. 

Ski told us some matters regarding a lady whom 
we had never heard of, and in a few days a gentle- 
man friend incidentally repeated the same thing, he 
being a personal friend of the lady. This control 
often tells things of this kind for tests. 

He then promised to bring us a flower. We took 
a goblet half full of water, set it on the slate, one of 
the medium's hands holding it, and the other being 
on top of the table. The top of the goblet was 
pressed close against the table, with no room even 
for a knife blade between ; and my husband held 
the medium's hand so that even a muscle could not 
move without his knowledge. I looked at the gob- 
let several times, and saw nothing but the water; 
but the last time I saw it filled with a beautiful 
blossom, of a shrub nature. My husband took it 
out and brought it home. 

After our seance, we bade the lady good-by with- 
out leaving her the remotest clue of our identity. 

Nearly three years after, we unexpectedly stepped 
into her home again. When we read the first mes- 
sage, we were surprised and pleased with an ac- 
knowledgment from the spirits of a boquet we had 
secretly sent the medium the day before. Then fol- 
lowed numbers of messages for us; and some which 



68 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

we promised to deliver to our neighbors. Some spir- 
its expressed great regret about the recklessness and 
ill-doings of their families ; saving that these wrongs 
were not only causing trouble here, but were heap- 
ing up remorse for the perpetrators hereafter. Oth- 
ers spoke of business which they had left unfinished, 
giving us such minute details that we were obliged 
to understand it. While writing was being obtained 
under the table, Mrs. Simpson wrote with her own 
hand on another slate on top of the table, giving OS 
messages from other parties, or sometimes adding 
testimony to the independent writing. 

Gertrude came and told us several family matters 
which were of the deepest interest to us, and 
explained mysteries which had happened several 
years before. One of these referred to a letter of 
consequence, which she said was written by a differ- 
ent person than the assumed author, and which, by 
a strange coincidence, we find most likely. 

Our own personal friends, my father being promi- 
nent among them, gave us most positive proof of 
their consciousness of, and sympathy with, our daily 

Mrs. Simpson is a highly-cultivated lady, of great 
will power and force of character, and is one of the 
best, if not the very best, mediums on earth. I 
think she and good old Ski can prove spirit com- 
munion to any unprejudiced mind capable of reason- 
ing. 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 69 

MRS. O. A. BISHOP. 

This is perhaps one of the greatest trance medi- 
ums on earth, with one of the most agreeable con- 
trols. Old Redhand is a perfect jewel of an Indian, 
and as a control won my heart at once. He literally 
overwhelms us with his knowledge of people and 
affairs, of which, I am confident, his medium can 
know nothing. We were total strangers to Mrs. 
Bishop, but could scarcely believe it ourselves, so 
well did her control seem to know us. Our chil- 
dren, parents, brothers, and, in fact, nearly all our 
spirit friends could communicate freely and fully 
with us. We received from them the most beautiful 
remembrances, and all seemed trying to lighten the 
sorrows which have fallen so heavily upon us. They 
call the dear child so lately buried a "white rose- 
bud," and said it was sweetly unfolding and blossom- 
ing in the summer-land; that, as the flower bursts 
from the earth's darkness into sunshine, so reached 
his spirit from the body's prison into the light of im- 
mortality ; that his spiritual nature was so developed 
that he would have hungered for purer and higher 
associations than this life affords. If this be true, it 
is clearly our duty to rejoice at his removal ; but we 
are only human. — we cannot. 

Old Redhand fully described the habits and pecu- 
liarities of many of our earthly friends, giving the 
particulars as well as we could give them ourselves. 
We were posted perfectly regarding the health of 
those we left at home, and as to what was transpir- 
ing in the house at any given time. If we spoke of 



70 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

personal matters, and made a mistake in dates or 
places, he at once corrected us. Without suggestions 
from us, he gave us full advice as to our association 
with different individuals, and explained to our satis- 
faction the most complicated doings of some of them. 
He expressed much contempt for an individual who 
lias proven treacherous and dishonest in friendship 
and business, and regretted at the same time that the 
person should be piling up so much future misery for 
himself. 

He gave particulars of some inventions which he 
said were "growing" in my husband's head, besides 
those which he had already worked out; also told 
the prospective results of these. The inventions are 
"grown," and nearly ripe, but we know not yet the 

results. 

Three years ago tin- immortals told me of some 
business that / would be obliged to do. Being a 
domestic woman, I took it as a good joke on myself, 
but have since been through precisely what they fore- 
told. 

In our last seance in Chicago with Mrs. Bishop, 
Redhand said: "You are going home on a steam- 
boat."' We smiled, and expressed our doubt of 
being able to do so. "Yes, you will," he said; "you 
will go to a city on the cars ; on the following Wed- 
nesday you will go home on a boat." Unforeseen 
circumstances brought this very trip about, though 
at first it seemed unlikely; and w r e came on Wednes- 
day, as we remembered when we were on our way. 

I have only space to give a mere idea of our expe- 
riences with Redhand. To believe, understand, or 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 71 

appreciate the wonders of this control, all must see 
for themselves, and take time to weigh the matter 
well. 

He said, from the beginning of President Gar- 
field's illness, that he could not recover; but we 
hoped against this sad prediction. We, with the 
rest of the world, watched and waited and hoped. 
The suffering, bleeding victim lingered weary weeks, 
wearing his precious life away because of an assas- 
sin's cruel deed. Suspense and sorrow drooped the 
souls of his dear wife and children, and the heart of 
the Republic ached in sympathy with them. Busi- 
ness suspended, churches opened to the worshipful, 
and, in the self-same hour, and with one tone, the 
bells of this great continent reminded all of prayer. 
The pious and the worldly minds, the parson and 
the statesman, the politician and the toiler of the 
soil, the white and colored man, joined in the plea ; 
and in their earnest supplications they forgot all 
selfish strife. Our wisest and best leaders felt how 
hard the blow, if our Chief Magistrate should be cut 
down ; and many turned to God in hope and faith, 
sa}*ing : " Wilt Thou in mercy spare our Presi- 
dent?" 

The great voice of our Union — fifty millions 
strong — rose in one anthem, wafting that almost 
universal prayer. Surely, if Omnipotence were ever 
lenient to mankind, it must be in so good a cause. 
If prayer were ever heard, it seemed that this one 
which besieged the very heavens would move them 
unto pity. 

Upon her knees our weeping country bowed, her 



72 f;riDE-FOSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

soul uplifted to her God, while slio awaited His 
reply to her Bincere appeal. She heard it in the 
slow and solemn tolls of muffled hells, and funeral 
dirge. She raised her tearful eyes, and saw the 
answer in the clouds of black which draped the 
silent streets; the Stars and Stripes half mast, and 
looped with crape: the lines of jet upon the daily 
press; the old and new world in each other's arms, 
wiping each other's tears: and scattering flowers 
ether on ;i netxHnade grave. Tit is was the answer 
to the Christians' prayer. 



\}\ conclusion I wish to relate 1 a circumstance. 
One rainy November evening, I was the guest of a 
lady whose home (which was some sixty miles from 
mine) I had never entered before, and whose family 
I had never seen. Her husband and I had our 
hands on the planchette, and, neither one claiming 
any magnetic power, we were surprised to find our- 
selves getting writing. The communication was to 
me, and addressed me by my first name, which was 
unknown to anyone around me. It said: "J. sends 
his love and a kiss to you and. E." I asked if J. were 
in the spirit world. "No," said the writer, "he is 
standing on the street corner, talking about our 
patent." J. was my husband, and E. was one of our 
children. The control told me of business matters 
of my husband's which proved correct, and claimed 
to be his spirit brother, Ernest. I inquired what 
interest he had in the patent, and he replied : " I am 
his partner, and help him to invent." 



GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 73 

I never knew this brother, but have heard that 
he was an excellent machinist. My husband being 
a strictly temperate man, I could hardly believe 
that he was talking patents on the street corner, 
at midnight, in the rain. But he was. He and a 
nephew were waiting for the street cars to take him 
to the depot, from whence he started from Cincinnati 
to Washington. 

We often hear from Brother Ernest; and his 
taste for machinery has never left him he says. 

But what I want to know of the skeptic is this : 
How, but by spirit power, could I receive informa- 
tion of what was taking place four hundred miles 
from me, at the time it ivas going on ? Whence came 
these facts? They could not come from mind-read- 
ing, because they were not in our minds. They did 
not emanate from us, because we could not give out 
what we did not possess. 

These manifestations always claim to be from dis- 
embodied spirits, — from individual intelligences, who 
claim existence in a world as real to them as this is 
to us, — people who take their characteristics with 
them, and enjoy the affections and spiritual and men- 
tal gifts they had in this life in their new also, — peo- 
ple who give the purest and highest moral counsel, 
and tell us that there is no merit or demerit in belief; 
but that truth, honesty, and humanity are the pass- 
ports to eternal happiness. If these phenomena are 
not caused by spirit power, what produces them ? 
Let the skeptic give a better solution to my query 
than is given by the spiritual philosophy, and I will 



74 GUIDE-POSTS ON IMMORTAL ROADS. 

accept it. Till then I am firmly convinced of its 
truth. 

In my reference to the Bible I do not offer it 
as personal authority for my convictions; I only 
use it to show why people differ who do accept 
it. It disputes itself so fully that one can take the 
true or false side of an argument and depend on it to 
sustain one. It is something as if a jury would be 
rendering a verdict that a prisoner was " guilty " and 
"not guilty." The case would certainly require 
another hearing. 



The invisibles encouraged me to write and pub- 
lish this little experience with them; and should 
Christian or Liberal skeptics condemn their judgment, 
I do nut blame them. We naturally expect perfec- 
tion from the inhabitants of another world. I have 
had that disappointed feeling regarding some weak 
expounder of Christianity who declared himself 
"called" by the Loud. 

Some of these " servants of God " read the Script- 
ures with tobaeeo in their mouths, and sign their 

his 

names thus: " Rev. Silas x Jinkins." I have 

mark 

always felt that, if they were really " called," it was 
either for the purpose of destroying the cause they 
advocated, or it was the result of a divine blunder. 



V 



jr'BRARY OF CONGRESS 

022 175 782*8 



